House by the road. Stebliv (?) 1956

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this drawing, House by the Road, with ink, sometime during his lifetime. The image is all about the line, scribbled in short, sharp, chaotic gestures that describe the house, the trees, the surrounding landscape. You get the sense that drawing was a way of thinking for this artist, a way of making sense of the world around him, or maybe just a way of staking his claim on it. The texture is built up entirely through this process of hatching and cross-hatching. Look closely at the way he renders the foliage – it’s not about botanical accuracy, but about capturing the feeling of fullness and density. This is all he needs to show us what he is seeing. The whole thing has a loose, improvisational feel. The strokes around the chimney are particularly interesting – it's like he's suggesting the rising smoke with a series of energetic scribbles. In a way, Havrylenko reminds me of Guston, with his commitment to the power of the raw, unadorned mark. It's not about beauty or perfection, but about honesty and directness. Art is conversation.